How IoT Is Revolutionizing Supply Chain Management: Key Insights

The proliferation of connected technologies across multiple industries is undeniable. Research firm Gartner put the figure of connected things in use at 8.4 billion in 2017, up 31% from the year before. That will reach 20.4 billion devices by 2020, Gartner predicted.

Within these figures, it’s estimated that consumer applications represents 63% of total IoT applications in 2017. Impressive, sure, but worth noting is that this means business applications represent a huge part of this growing opportunity, as much as 37% last year.

Peter Middleton, research director at Gartner, explains:

Author Hailey McKeefrey adds:

The positive impact on supply chain related processes is likely to be immense. Businesses are flocking to try to leverage IoT technology in a variety of areas, including:

• Asset tracking: Tracking technologies determine real-time location of shipments, equipment, and assets.
• Fleet management: Tracking technologies connect all fleets and collect real-time mileage data.
• Inventory and warehouse management: Determining warehouse activity levels by monitoring data from long-range networks.
• Vendor management: Using data gathered from asset tracking tools to measure vendor performance.
• Predictive maintenance: Equipping assets with sensors to predict breakage and allow proactive response.

Grand View Research predicted that the global internet of things fleet management market size will reach $16.86 billion by 2025, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.8% during the forecast period.

“Introduction of vehicular internet connectivity has triggered the rate of adoption for IoT fleet management,” the report states. “IoT fleet management includes various solutions such as vehicle tracking & monitoring, fleet analytics, fuel management, predictive maintenance, remote diagnostics, and driver performance tracking & monitoring. These solutions enable fleet operators to not only increase their operational efficiency but also assist them in reducing expenses.”

The infographic from Alba Logistics below outlines some of the most promising areas:

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